Gunn and Safran Out at DC Studios: What the Supergirl Flop and a Marvel Veteran's Arrival Mean for DC

Four years after they were handed the keys to Superman, Batman and the rest of the DC pantheon, James Gunn and Peter Safran are out as the bosses of DC Studios. Skydance Motion Picture Group announced Monday that the pair are stepping down as co-chief executives and that Jeremy Latcham, a veteran of Marvel Studios' early run, will take over, with the change taking effect Dec. 1 ^[1].

The move closes a chapter that opened with a genuine hit and stumbled badly this summer. It lands in the middle of a sweeping corporate merger at Warner Bros., and it follows a controversy over remarks by the star of "Supergirl" that many critics said alienated the very moviegoers DC needs ^[2][6].

What Happened at DC

Gunn and Safran will give up their posts as chairmen and CEOs and return full time to creative work ^[2]. Variety called the exit unexpected, noting that both men had been named to Skydance chief David Ellison's business leadership team ^[2]. Townhall reported that it remained unclear whether they were pushed out or left on their own ^[4].

Gunn's own farewell suggested a measure of relief. In a social media post, he described his time running the studio as trying and wrote, "I dislike the at-times corporate nature of the job" ^[2]. In a joint statement, the two producers said they were "excited to return to what drew us to this job in the first place," pointing to Gunn's Superman sequel, "Man of Tomorrow," which is in post-production ^[1]. Ellison praised the pair for opening a new chapter at the studio during a time of major change ^[1].

The shake-up is a product of the upheaval at Warner Bros. Paramount's $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery closed in October ^[2]. Gunn and Safran had been installed in 2022 by then-Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav to build a rival to Marvel's cinematic universe ^[2]. The Associated Press reported that they made it through Skydance's takeover itself but not the restructuring after the studio's merger with Paramount Pictures, which was finalized just as DC's "Clayface" reached theaters ^[1].

Who Is Jeremy Latcham?

Latcham will serve as president and chief creative officer of DC Studios, running its film, television and animation slate and reporting to Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein, co-chairs of Skydance Motion Picture Group ^[2]. He joined Marvel Studios in 2004 and rose to senior vice president of production and development, serving as associate producer on "Iron Man" and executive producer on "The Avengers," "Guardians of the Galaxy" and "Spider-Man: Homecoming" ^[2]. That history includes working alongside Gunn and Safran on "Guardians" ^[1].

He left Marvel in 2017 to found Latcham Pictures, which produced "Bad Times at the El Royale" and "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" ^[1]. More recently he held an overall deal at Hasbro Entertainment and has been producing a "Naruto" adaptation for Lionsgate ^[2]. Goldberg and Greenstein said Latcham deeply respects DC and its devoted fans, and he said he was excited and honored to lead the studio into its next era ^[1].

The Box Office Ledger

The record Latcham inherits is mixed. Gunn's "Superman" was the high point, grossing $618.7 million worldwide in 2025, a solid result even if, as the AP noted, it fell short of the genre's biggest blockbusters ^[1].

Related Russell Brand Gets 10 1/2 Years for Rape and Sexual Assaults as Police Say More People Have Come Forward

"Supergirl" was the low point. The $170 million film opened in late June with $38 million in the United States and Canada and $30 million overseas, finishing second behind "Toy Story 5" ^[5]. Audiences gave it a B-minus CinemaScore, and the AP ranked its debut among DC's worst, barely ahead of the $37.7 million opening of "Joker: Folie à Deux" and well behind "The Flash" and "Green Lantern" ^[5]. The film was also reportedly trimmed significantly after test screenings ^[5]. By Variety's count it took in just $126 million against that $170 million budget ^[2], and Townhall branded it a catastrophic bomb ^[4].

"Clayface," a darker, R-rated body-horror picture made for $44 million, performed modestly this fall with $109 million ^[2]. Analyst David A. Gross of FranchiseRe told the AP that superhero films no longer drive the box office as they did before the pandemic, with the genre's yearly take down about $3.5 billion from its 2017-2019 peak ^[5].

The Alcock Interview

The "Supergirl" campaign was shadowed by comments from its star, Milly Alcock, the Australian actress known for HBO's "House of the Dragon" ^[6]. In a Variety interview published in May, roughly a month before the film opened, Alcock discussed the backlash she had faced after telling Vanity Fair in March that simply being a woman in the spotlight draws comment ^[3][6]. She told Variety that she had been speaking about people in general, not men specifically, and that the furious reaction only proved her point ^[3].

She then described many of her online critics as faceless burner accounts, adding: "Or someone's name and then 'Dad of four, Christian,' which is hilarious to me" ^[3]. She went on to suggest that angering the right kind of people means you are doing fine ^[3].

The remark drew swift criticism. The Christian Post reported that commenters accused Alcock of alienating an entire demographic ^[6], and Townhall described the interview as "seemingly pre-blaming Christian men for the film's eventual downfall" ^[4]. To be precise about the record, Alcock made the comment weeks before release and was talking about online critics; nothing in the quoted passage addressed ticket sales ^[3]. Still, impressions matter. The fathers she singled out for a laugh are, in many households, the people deciding which movie the family sees on a Saturday night.

What Audiences Want

The same summer offered a telling contrast. While "Supergirl" stalled, "Toy Story 5" held the top spot in its second weekend with $70 million domestically and had already reached $585 million worldwide in two weeks ^[5]. The lesson is not complicated: families will fill theaters for stories that parents can share with their children.

Some critics argued DC's problem ran deeper than a single interview. Matt McGloin, editor of Cosmic Book News, wrote that the Gunn-era DC universe had already drawn fire over its handling of religion and shock content, citing a scene in the second season of HBO's "Peacemaker" that mocked Jesus Christ and a crude prison line involving Lex Luthor ^[6]. The Christian Post, relaying his argument, wrote that DC "may be alienating part of the same audience it needs to show up" ^[6].

Gunn's defenders have a case too. "Superman," a classic hero who stands for something, was a real success, and "Clayface" was made cheaply enough to soften its modest returns ^[1][2]. But the pattern is hard to miss: the most traditional hero drew more than $600 million, while the projects that leaned darker or courted controversy did far less.

What Comes Next for DC

Latcham takes over Dec. 1 ^[1], and the slate he inherits still bears his predecessors' stamp. "Superman: Man of Tomorrow," written and directed by Gunn, is due next summer ^[2], with Townhall reporting a July target ^[4]. "The Batman: Part II," starring Robert Pattinson, is set for 2028, and the series "The People v. Gorilla Grodd" is slated for 2027 ^[2]. Townhall reported that Gunn will stay creatively involved with DC ^[4].

Latcham's Marvel resume points to an executive who knows how to build a shared universe from the ground up. Whether he can win back the broad, family audience that once made superhero movies a summer ritual may matter more than any single release. If DC wants that audience back, it will need heroes worth looking up to, and a studio culture that treats the Christian dad in the ticket line as a customer to welcome rather than a punch line.